***Please do not quote this entire post ***
In version 1.3.5, both Contested Altdorf and Contested Inevitable City will be receiving a massive overhaul. The endgame content for the Campaign will now be 100% RvR-driven. This write-up of changes is for you, the player, to ask questions, voice concerns, or otherwise offer any feedback that you may have on the matter.
General Information
- City sieges will now be a 24 versus 24 battle.
- City sieges will now last a maximum of 2 hours.
- All PVE instances within the Contested city have been disabled
- Defenders and Invaders will both have a chance at obtaining some of the best items available in the game, including Sovereign equipment!
- As a similar direction taken with the Scenario rewards, players will be awarded for their effort at the conclusion of each stage. The winning Realm will have a PQ chest drop - those who win the roll on a PQ chest will have to make a conscious decision as to what they want from the PQ bag. All other players in both the winning and losing Realms will have Crests placed directly into his or her inventory, with the losing Realm's based upon how well they performed during the Stage.
- The winning Realm of any Stage will receive a Scenario Insignia.
- Players will be forcibly placed within a Warband upon entering a City instance equipped with an instance-specific chat channel. Manipulation of looting rules will be disabled.
- Players will be resurrected in 30 second waves unless resurrected by another player.
- A scoreboard is accessible within a Contested City by clicking on the mini-map icon. (PLEASE NOTE: This feature will not be present in 1.3.5 but is to be added in a later version)
- Players present at the conclusion of any Stage within the Contested City will have a reward lockout timer applied to their character. This reward lockout timer will force a character to opt out of PQ loot for that specific Stage for the duration of the timer. You are still able to participate in a Contested City battle even if you have a reward lockout applied to your character and will be rewarded with spoils in the form of Crests in lieu of standard rewards.
- Players exiting the Contested City after the setup phase will have all three Stages' reward lockout timers applied to their character. This is to discourage players from leaving a Contested City battle mid-way through if it appears his or her Realm is going to lose.
- Players will respawn at the nearest point that is controlled by their Realm during Stages 1 & 2 unless the closest point in the initial entrance location.
Stage 1
- Setup Phase: 5 Minutes
- Duration: 15 Minutes (Maximum: 45 Minutes… details included in the description)
- Invader's Win Condition: Breach the Palace Gates
- Defender's Win Condition: Hold Out (until the timer expires)
- Reward Lockout Duration: Approximately 20 Hours
Description:
When a city battle begins, both Realms will be locked within a gated area for 5 minutes in order to allow both Realms to gather reinforcements. During this time, players will be addressed by their Realm leader who is also present within the battle. Just to visualize the idea, here are the two Realm leader parties:
There will be six, chained control points that are represented by familiar locations within the cities. Points will be clearly identified on the map as to what Realm currently has control and whether or not the point is vulnerable to attack. Here are the two city maps with the new control points:
Control points will be locked and impossible to be captured unless a connecting point has been taken by the invading forces. In the images below, connections that have the same line color represent the options within the required progression path in order to siege the gates of the defender's palace:
Defenders may not recapture points in this stage. Capturing a point increases the duration of the stage by five minutes.
The act of capturing a point is not directly done by players (e.g. there is no proximity bar or interaction with a flag). A point controlled by the defenders will be outfitted with siege equipment. Destroying all the siege equipment will cause the point to become vulnerable. Once vulnerable, the invading Realm will have an NPC sapper that spawns and makes its way toward the location. Here are the sapper NPCs:
As you can see from the images, the sapper NPCs are easily spotted as they both have the familiar RvR "Glow Beam" to distinguish their Realm and location.
The invading Realm must escort this sapper to ensure that he detonates the location and thus claiming the point for the invaders. The sapper can be stunned, rooted, snared as well as being able to be healed by allied players. If the sapper dies then another will respawn shortly and this process will continue until the overall stage timer elapses or the sapper successfully captures the point. Sappers are equipped with the Greater Ward.
This capture process continues throughout this stage until the invading Realm controls one of two points closest to the palace gates. Using Altdorf as an example, this would be the North Dock and the Library. Once the North Dock is controlled by Destruction, reinforcements will arrive by ship in the shape of escorted siege equipment (Goblins with Rock Lobbas). These NPCs will need to be kept alive as they unleash assaults against the palace gates. Players are incapable of harming the palace gates directly and must be done through the usage of these NPCs. Alternatively, controlling the Library will allow the summoning forth of a Lord of Change that will cause massive siege damage to the palace gates.
The moment the palace gates are breached, a two minute timer will occur which is time to allow for the PQ loot window to select winners and such. Since I know that losing Realm will be doing anything they can possibly think of to interfere with the PQ chest looting… we have a fun plan in place to deter players from that behavior
Stage 2
- Duration: 30 Minutes
- Invader's Win Condition: Escort Either Allied Warlord to the Palace Gates or Defeat Enemy Warlords
- Defender's Win Condition: Escort Either Allied Warlord to the Palace Gates or Defeat Enemy Warlords
- Reward Lockout Duration: Approximately 44 Hours
During this stage, both the invaders and defenders will have their two Warlords taken to the field; akin to a game of chess to bring out the rooks after the pawns have done their damage. For the defenders, these Warlords are the only method for recapturing points lost during Stage 1. Invading Warlords cannot capture points in this Stage.
After spawning, each Warlord will make its way through capture points along their two unique paths to the enemy gates. Upon reaching a capture point controlled by the invading enemy, a defending Warlord will begin its recapture actions and will successfully recapture the point within a period of time. Invading Warlords ignore capture point ownership and simply pass through them. Warlords will ignore combat initiated by players and will always press forward toward the enemy gates. Warlords may be healed by allied players and are not immune to any form of damage or crowd control abilities by enemy players. Warlords are equipped with the Superior Ward.
If two Warlords of opposing Realms cross paths, they will stop all previous actions (including recapturing a point) and fight one another until one of them dies.
The moment a Warlord from either Realm reaches the enemy's gates, or at any point in time where both Warlords of a Realm have been defeated, the PQ stage will end and a two minute timer will occur to allow the winning Realm to claim their rewards from the PQ chest.
If the timer on this Stage ever reaches zero, it will be considered a draw. Both Realms will receive rewards based upon their effort as if they lost and no PQ chest will be dropped.
Stage 3
- Duration: 30 Minutes
- Invader's Win Condition: Defeat the Enemy King
- Defender's Win Condition: Defeat the Enemy King
- Reward Lockout Duration: Approximately 68 Hours
This is the final stage of the 100% RvR-driven city. Depending on which Realm won the previous Stage, this final battle may occur at one of two locations:
- If Invaders, then within the enemy King's Palace
- If Defenders, then at the main entrance of the Contested City
Once this Stage begins, all players will be called to the side of their Realm leader (e.g. teleported) and given a brief period to recover from the disorienting effects of teleportation as well as observe the role-play event of their Realm leader. During this role-play event, each Realm leader will select four players and declare them his Champions. Both Kings will be completely immune to all hostile effects so long as any of their respective Champions are alive.
Champions are players blessed with incredible power by their Realm leader. If chosen to be a Champion, you will acquire the following:
- Equipped with the Monster-Version of the Excelsior Ward (your opponents will hope they have some Wards!)
- Increases Damage Dealt
- Increases Healing Done
- Increases Maximum Health
- Cannot Guard or be Guarded
- Reduces Damage Taken from Non-Champion Sources
- Reduces Healing Received from Non-Champion Sources
- Receives the stacking buff of Building Reprisal after being the victim of a critical strike. Cannot acquire a Building Reprisal charge more than once every 6 seconds. Stacks to a maximum of 10 times.
- If Destruction,
- Receives Temporary Ability: Plead to Tchar'zanek
- Requests the aid of Tchar'zanek to unleash a devastating tornado of chaos energy at a specified location. Deals X damage immediately at the location and then causes Y damage every second thereafter. Lasts for 20 seconds. Consumes all charges of Building Reprisal on use.
- If Order,
- Receives Temporary Ability: Petition to the Emperor
- Requests the aid of Emperor Karl Franz to unleash a comet of Sigmar at a specified location. Deals X damage immediately at the location and then causes Y damage every second thereafter. Lasts for 20 seconds. Consumes all charges of Building Reprisal on use.
Champions will be chosen at random in a manner where one player of each archetype is selected:
- Tank (Black Orc, Chosen, Blackguard, Ironbreaker, Knight of the Blazing Sun, and Swordmaster)
- Healer (Shaman, Zealot, Disciple of Khaine, Runepriest, Warrior Priest, and Archmage)
- Melee DPS (Choppa, Marauder, Witch Elf, Slayer, Witch Hunter, and White Lion)
- Ranged DPS (Squig Herder, Magus, Sorcerer, Bright Wizard, Engineer, and Shadow Warrior)
In addition, while Control Points are no longer able to be captured in this Stage, each Control Point owned by a Realm provides the following additive bonuses to all players of the Realm (including those chosen as Champions):
- Damage Dealt increased by 2%
- Healing Done increased by 2%
Once the final Champion of a Realm dies, his or her allied King will become vulnerable to damage. Defeating the enemy King results in a win. When this occurs, defenders will no longer respawn within the Contested city and the surviving King will… clean up the mess
If the timer ever reaches zero, the invading King will call for a retreat. Both Realms will be rewarded for their effort but no PQ chest will be dropped.
There you have it folks - the exciting new changes to the Campaign that is now 100% RvR-driven! As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, please offer any comments, concerns, complaints, etc. as you see fit but please try to remain on topic.
Thanks!
Mike Wyatt
RvR/Content Design Lead